Hoses are typically used in conjunction with on/off valves positioned at a distal or proximal end of the hose. For example, garden hoses are fitted to a faucet on the outside of a house or other building, with a traditional manual spigot or valve for turning the water flow on or off at the faucet. Because the hose is designed to extend many yards away from the faucet, it is often convenient to have a means for turning the flow on or off at the distal or spray nozzle end of the hose. Thus, many manual devices such as spray guns are provided for fitting at the nozzle end of the hose so that the flow can be turned on or off without repeatedly returning to the faucet.
Despite the availability of attachments for turning the flow on or off at the nozzle end, it is generally undesirable to leave the water flow on at the source when the hose is no longer in use. Continual water pressure along the entire length of the hose is undesirable for a number of reasons. The pressure tends to form leakage paths at joints between multiple lengths of hose, at the joint between the nozzle and the nozzle attachment (such as a spray gun), and at the joint between the faucet and the hose. Furthermore, continual pressure can also form leaks along the hose line itself. Constant leakage at these points leads to flooded or muddied garden areas, particularly near the faucet where the user has to go to turn the water on or off. Moreover, it is difficult to manipulate the hose, move it from place to place or coil the hose for storage with constant pressure along the hose line. This leads the user to turn off the water flow at the source, e.g., by the manual spigot on the outside faucet. However, it is often inconvenient to reach the faucet. Often the faucet is obstructed or difficult to reach and the area around the faucet tends to be muddied by water leakage.
These problems have been addressed to some extent by providing a remotely controllable, electrically actuated valve or flow controller in the hose, the valve positioned to selectively open and close a fluid flow path through the hose via a remote control. However, there are power consumption issues that limit the use of remotely controlled devices. Remote control systems generally involve a remote transmitter powered by a battery, or low power source, and the unit to be controlled. The unit to be controlled is connected to a receiver that is usually powered by a continuous power source, rather than a battery. Thus, while the remote transmitter is typically powered by batteries and thus truly “wireless,” the receiver is usually connected to a larger, or continuous, source of power by a wire. The reason the transmitter can operate from a battery, or low power source, is because a transmitter only needs to draw power when it transmits a wireless signal to the receiver; thus, the transmitter does not need to draw power at all times. On the other hand, the receiver cannot function in this way because it does not know when a command will be sent to it. In other words, in traditional arrangements, the receiver must continuously monitor for incoming signals and, therefore, must be on at all times. The power that is needed to continuously monitor for an incoming signal would normally drain a battery in a few days. This makes a fully wireless, or battery-operated remotely controllable device, impractical.
Motorized hose reels also exist. Such reels have mechanical and electrical controls on the reel itself.